Doctor Who: 10 Qualities That Made Peter Capaldi's Doctor Great
1. The Great Pretender
The Ninth Doctor was up front about his role in the Time War, and the Tenth Doctor openly embraced his Messiah Complex. The Eleventh Doctor was the first to lie as a matter of course. It wasn’t so much of a character trait as a plot device to wrong foot the audience: he lied because Steven Moffat lied.
The Twelfth Doctor is the only one who could rightly be described as the Great Pretender. It is this feature of his character that makes him the most complex. Only the best of actors can reveal and conceal at the same time, it takes an extraordinary subtlety of voice and expression. Capaldi pulls it off time and time again, for example when hugging Clara as he pretends to have found Gallifrey, whilst hiding his pain at Missy’s cruel deception (Death in Heaven).
Last time we saw the Doctor, we learnt that after spending twenty four years with River Song on Darillium, he had been manically rushing around the universe saving worlds, filling up his time to avoid coming to terms with losing River Song.
At the end of the episode, Nardole gives us a little hint as to the Doctor’s state of mind in series 10, confirming that he will continue to be the multifaceted, complex character that has been so brilliantly captured by Peter Capaldi.
“He’s the Doctor. He’s very brave and he’s very silly. And I think, for a time, he’s going to be very sad. But I promise in the end he’ll be alright. I’ll make sure of it.”
What did you make of Capaldi's Doctor? Let us know down in the comments.